Monday, March 18, 2013

Brown Betty's Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

This cake was kind of a disappointment. It's the 2nd cake I made from my newest cookbook, The Brown Betty Cookbook. The first recipe I made from this book was a sour cream poundcake and I did not care for that one either. The cookbook received such rave reviews on Amazon so I'm not sure what to think. But this cake is not bad, it's just....eh. The texture is definitely not a light, fluffy, chocolate layer cake. It's very dense like a poundcake. You can tell in my last photo that parts of the cake were downright fudgy. It was kind of difficult to tell when this cake was done. I'm usually pretty good at removing my cake layers at exactly the right time. Parts of this cake seemed done but the middle did not. I even had my cake bands around the outside of my 3 pans. It's not a dry cake, just kind of dense & crumbly texture. Not my thing for a layer cake. I would not make this recipe again. Hopefully, the next recipe I choose from this book will be a success.

Your cake is absolutely gorgeous. When I saw it, I knew it would be my birthday cake and also be on my Christmas dessert table. Sorry you were not pleased with the look of it, but this is what I look for. An old-fashioned, homemade cake, moist and dense. Your cake produced a picture-perfect slice, worthy of comment and a place in my recipe collection.

Oh I agree that this is a PRETTY cake. I just don't care for the taste or texture that much. I have 2 or 3 other chocolate cake recipes that are out of this world and super easy too. This cake wasn't horrible and it was gobbled right up but I'm really fussy about my cakes and I just was not wowed by this one.

I also recently made this cake from the Brown Betty cookbook and was very disappointed especially given the reviews on Amazon. I made two cakes out of the cookbook that day. The pound cake with lemon icing and this chocolate one. I have never thrown a cake away and I threw the chocolate one away. I agree with you, it was dry and not because it was over cooked. The pound cake was good and enjoyed by everyone, but I have other recipes for both cakes that will remain as my go-to recipe.

Bought the cookbook. They are all pretty cakes. I made the first cake, dense and heavy, but good flavor on the first day. I just made the strawberry cake, frosting is great, cake is too dense. It flattened the middle layer of frosting. I bake from scratch exclusively for 35 yrs. The book is a great read, but a waste of eggs and butter. Thank-you for the blog, I thought something was wrong with my attempts. Pound cake is a perfect description.

Heidi

My name is Heidi. I live in Seattle and I love to bake. Please take your time and browse my collection of baking recipes & experiments. Most of them good....some...well, not so good. I'm honest with my reviews so you know what to avoid! Please email me if you have questions or just want to chat! I'd love to hear from you. nillanamba@gmail.com